


How To Handle A Sister In Love

by VJR22_6



Category: DuckTales (Cartoon 2017)
Genre: F/F, adhd della, and donald's many relationships mentioned briefly, nonbinary penumbra
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-17
Updated: 2019-10-17
Packaged: 2020-12-20 23:03:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 841
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21064646
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/VJR22_6/pseuds/VJR22_6
Summary: In which; Della has fallen very much in love with Penny, and Donald would really like her to stop talking about that.





	How To Handle A Sister In Love

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you to Tumblr's @spaceray! His art, which is at https://spaceray.tumblr.com/post/187770107330/theyre-trying-their-best inspired this fic!!! Thanks, Phineas, you absolutely rock!!!

Della is in love, and Donald is tired.

It wouldn’t be so bad if Penumbra didn’t live with them, he supposes. But she does, after the invasion, and Della is pining for her. He knows that his sister falls in love easier than him, but he doesn’t quite get why she’s picked Penny.

She gets up before sunrise and practices her combat skills, while Della sleeps in until noon if he lets her. The moonlander is hostile and untrusting, his twin is friends with half of Duckburg. One is hardworking, the other forever forgetting to do the dishes. If Penny is the moon, Della is her sun, two opposites dancing in a sea of beautiful, yet lonely, stars.

Della sits on the end of Donald’s bed while he’s folding laundry, and talks about Penny for an hour. She’s beautiful, Della says. Her freckles and her eyes and her smile, however rare, are the prettiest things in the world. Her heart is protected, Della declares, but if she trusts you, she’s warm and welcoming as the fireplace on Christmas Eve.

Donald thinks of Daisy, and thinks of her eyes. He thinks of José’s warm hands holding his and Panchito’s enthused hugs. He thinks of Mickey and of laughing until his chest hurt. He thinks of Goofy’s voice when the two of them talk about their kids. He thinks of romantic love, and he thinks of happiness.

Della thinks of the woman who had her back in battle, and who, upon seeing her again, gave his sister the tightest, yet gentlest, embrace.

If that’s what makes her happy, Donald won’t deny her love. He listens to her endless rambles, endures distractions in conversation, offers advice when she tries to get Penny’s attention. And Penny, whose only two friends are the twins, comes to Donald to talk about Della too, eventually, so he listens to them both.

He learns that Penny likes how Della can never focus on anything, that Della likes how Penny refuses to identify with a gender, though she likes how “she” sounds. He learns that they admire each other, for things like being tidy when the other isn’t or for bringing a blanket when one falls asleep on the couch. And, of course, there’s the kids.

Donald loves the boys and Webby, as if they were his own, really, and they love him back. But Della’s connection with the four is different, for each of them, and Penny’s is more different still. Della indulges each of their interests on separate days or outings, pulls them together for family movie nights or craft stuff. Penny asks them their games and is always, always willing to play, and it makes him often wonder if she knows any of her people’s games like she does Earth ones, now. He’s starting to suspect not.

Della wakes the kids in the morning, chases them around the landing strip before they get on the plane. She plays around on the back lawn with them, sometimes tells them stories in the TV room. Penny bandages scrapes from adventure, teaches them to keep their things tidy and how to fight if anyone tries to hurt them. She dresses up in cardboard-box-armor for games of pretend, and tucks them in when the twins say goodnight to them.

Webby is first. Usually, it’s a quick kiss on the head and “see you in the morning,” and she’ll run up to her attic bedroom by herself. Penumbra, declaring that she should be treated the same as the boys, carries her upstairs now. Della waves to Webby over Penny’s shoulder, and as soon as they turn a corner, sighs and looks at him with soft heart-eyes. “I love her so much,” she always says. “She’s a good parent.”

Donald’s known, since Della found out she was expecting, that whoever she fell in love with would have to love the kids first. And Penny does, just as much as they do. They make sure the boys brush their teeth and shower, and give them hugs goodnight before they climb into their bunks. Penny goes the extra mile, wrapping them in their blankets and turning out the light while the twins wait in the hall for her.

And then the fateful night comes, when they’re waiting on her to say her goodnights, when Della turns to him and remarks, with a gaze of questioning love, “Tall, beautiful, AND good with kids? Is it too early to be planning our wedding?”

Donald crosses his arms and rolls his eyes, but in all reality, he knows she’s thinking of a ring already. She’s probably decided on a sky-blue suit, her favorite color. She’s mentally thinking of what Penny’s ring will look like, and what she’ll get engraved on the inside, because she’s been saying she wants to engrave her love’s wedding ring since they were teenagers. She’s a romantic that way, he supposes, and resigns himself to the days of proposal-prep ahead.

He’s tired, but Della’s in love, and if she’s happy then so is he.


End file.
